A blog about digital rhetoric that asks the burning questions about electronic bureaucracy and institutional subversion on the Internet.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Who's Crying Now?

Online video technologies have been extremely important for the defense team of Omar Khadr in publicizing the case of their client, a Canadian citizen who is currently in detention at Guantánamo. This footage is an excerpt from his interrogation, which was filmed through an airduct by U.S. authorities and then released to Khadr's defense team in response to their disclosure request for the tape. Khadr was apprehended as a sixteen-year-old, and his lawyers note both his youth and the fact that he was raised by a jihadist family when questioning his capacity to be an intentional agent of terrorist acts. They also emphasize that the combat situation in which he was defending himself would have defined him as a POW protected by the Geneva convention in other wars. Some of Khadr's dossier, including various exhibits and documents prepared by the U.S. government, are available on this Department of Defense website. The page on Khadr prepared by a Canadian human rights group links to many of the same texts on the site.

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As soon as the Gitmo interrogation tape of Omar Khadr hit the Internet, the blogosphere was flooded with demands to repatriate him to Canada. This wave is reminiscent of a Soviet campaign to free Luis Corvalán from the "fascist regime" of Augusto Pinochet thirty five years ago. The scenario is strikingly similar. A "victim" held by "fascist regimes" this time run by Bush and Harper, and a public outcry for justice. Except for the fact that Luis Corvalán didn't kill anyone and didn't fight for a terrorist group that wants to impose Sharia.

The "repatriate Khadr" crowd describes him as "a child", "a kid", "a boy", and even "a torture victim", with no facts to substantiate the torture claims notwithstanding. They complain about Khadr being mistreated, again, without anything to back up their claims. Some of them are outraged about "child abuse." And they all scream for justice.

They want justice? OK, let's talk about JUSTICE. What about justice for Sgt. First Class Christopher J. Speer, who was (according to an eyewitness) murdered by this "child"? What about justice for Tabitha Speer, who is a widow because of this "kid"? What about justice for Taryn and Tanner Speer, who are left without a father by this "a boy"? And what about all those Afghani civilians and NATO troops who are a little bit safer because this "torture victim" is behind bars? How many of these "repatriate Khadr" hypocrites concern themselves with justice for real victims? In literally hundreds of posts, we couldn't find a single one.

One would ask, what is the reason for this idiocy? The answer is simple. Ignorance. Complete and utter ignorance. Let's forget for a second that Omar Khadr killed Christopher Speer. Let's forget that Khadr's father was an al Qaeda financier. Let's forget that Khadr's family is known for it being al Qaeda sympathizers. Let's just remember what this "child" was fighting for in Afghanistan.